Slashdot Mirror


Facial Recognition Gone Wrong

An anonymous reader writes "John H. Gass hadn't had a traffic ticket in years, so the Natick resident was surprised this spring when he received a letter from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles informing him to cease driving because his license had been revoked. It turned out Gass was flagged because he looks like another driver, not because his image was being used to create a fake identity. His driving privileges were returned but, he alleges in a lawsuit, only after 10 days of bureaucratic wrangling to prove he is who he says he is. And apparently, he has company. Last year, the facial recognition system picked out more than 1,000 cases that resulted in State Police investigations, officials say. And some of those people are guilty of nothing more than looking like someone else. Not all go through the long process that Gass says he endured, but each must visit the Registry with proof of their identity. Massachusetts began using the software after receiving a $1.5 million grant from the US Department of Homeland Security as part of an effort to prevent terrorism, reduce fraud, and improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents that states issue."

5 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. In other news by larry+bagina · · Score: 4, Funny

    The ethnic population in Massachusetts has shrunk to one black and one asian.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  2. Pastafarianism will solve this by TenDollarMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    All you need to do is wear a welding mask as your Pastafarian religous headwear.

    It works in Austria. G'day mate.

    1. Re:Pastafarianism will solve this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      There is so much wrong with this post I don't know where to begin. It's like you picked a handful a meme and got everything about it wrong.

    2. Re:Pastafarianism will solve this by chomsky68 · · Score: 1, Funny

      It works in Austria. Grüß Gott Kumpel.

      FTFY

      --
      I'm Not Antisocial, I'm Just Not User Friendly
  3. in defense of intrusive bungling bureaucracy by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Funny

    Massholes do all drive in the same aggressive manner

    (I keed, I keed!)

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it